AT&T taking pre-orders for Galaxy S 4 Active, in stores June 21

Samsung's rugged Galaxy S 4 Active will make its U.S. debut on June 21.

Samsung's rugged Galaxy S 4 Active will make its U.S. debut on June 21. (Samsung)

Salvador Rodriguez

AT&T and Samsung are going after outdoorsy customers with the new Galaxy S 4 Active, a rugged version of Samsung's popular flagship smartphone.

With a thicker and heavier shell than the original Galaxy S 4, the G S 4 Active is able to keep dust out of its components as well as water even when submerged under more than three feet of water for up to a half hour.

The G S 4 Active was unveiled earlier this month, but AT&T did not announce it would be the exclusive U.S. carrier until this week.

AT&T began taking pre-orders for the G S 4 Active on Friday. The phone is available for $199.99 with a two-year contract and will be available to customers starting June 21.

The South Korean tech giant has already succeeded in capturing mass audiences with its flagship device, more than 10 million of which were sold in one month, and now it is going after more niche markets by releasing variants of the phone that have been slightly altered to appeal to different people.

The G S 4 Active will be the first of the G S 4 variants Samsung is releasing to become available in the U.S. Additionally, Samsung will be releasing a G S 4 mini for customers who want a smaller device, the G S 4 zoom for customers interested in photography and the G S 4 Google edition for customers who want their device to run on Google's stock Android software, not the version customized by Samsung.